


Silence

by TT_Angst_Queen



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fill, Gen Prompt Bingo, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Seriously guys, Silence, Take a Damn Parenting Class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 01:56:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15038162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TT_Angst_Queen/pseuds/TT_Angst_Queen
Summary: Tony Stark hated silence.





	Silence

 

* * *

 

 

Tony Stark hated silence. Since he was a child, living in a cold lonely mansion with only himself and the family butler to play with, he learned to fill the silence with chatter or the sound of tinkering and music, loud enough to drown out any sad or dark thoughts that tended to pop up when he though too hard; thoughts of the reality of a cold, distant mother, and a father that only acknowledged him to criticize and sneer at him, when he wasn’t drunk.

 

As Tony got older, he got better at feeling the silences without people noticing he did it on purpose, and he got better at making it seem natural, not forced. Eventually, it no longer _was_ forced, it came naturally, and became a habit.

 

It became a habit that made more than one person pull away and abandon Tony, fed up with his constant chatter and noise, not able to deal with the constantly active and noisy Stark heir.

 

His father had not put up with it long, he had sent him away to a posh boarding school that was full of people that were too busy or just too snobby to indulge Tony’s noise, so he filled the silences and did it naturally, not seeing anything wrong with it, not knowing that his deeply buried fear of silence wasn’t normal, wasn’t something that everybody had.  

 

His mother never dealt with it, and Tony could count on almost two hands the times he had actually talked to his mother by the time he went to MIT, at 14.

 

He didn’t know that that wasn’t something that was normal until he saw mothers helping freshman settle in their dorms, and fathers smiling proudly at their children as they said goodbye.

 

Then, he filled the silences even more frantically, since he finally knew that something was wrong, and he didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that his whole life was filled with only the sound of his voice and the music that filled the silence further.

 

Then he met Rhodey. Rhodey, who listened to his ramblings and laughed at his jokes and even danced along to his music. Rhodey, who never complained that he even had music (quietly) playing when they went to bed to fill the silence of the night. Rhodey, who contributed to his chatter and helped him fill the silence with his own voice and his own noises. Rhodey, who was always happy to see him, who _cared_ about him.

 

Then he made JARVIS, and he no longer had only himself to talk to. Then Pepper came along, then the Avengers….

Eventually, his world wasn’t so silent anymore.

 

* * *

 

 


End file.
